Business Plan
ELC Pro Bono Network Business Plan '''Note:''' *March 19 date for feedback on sections (bring in separately to class or add short questions / comments inside of the Wiki). '''Mission / Need (Brad)''' Dedicated outreach by the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic to low income and first time entrepreneurs suggests significant unmet demand for entrepreneurial ''pro bono'' services. Since 2006, the ELC has led presentations about business law for organizations such as Denver’s Mi Casa and Centro San Juan. Attendees of these presentations are typically would-be entrepreneurs who aim to launch lifestyle businesses such as construction companies, bakeries, cleaning companies, and restaurants. These small businesses empower their founders and, when they succeed, allow entrepreneurship to serve as an anti-poverty vehicle. Access to legal services – and the social networks that attorneys provide – is a real pain that too often remains unmet for these entrepreneurs. On the provider side, there is reason for concern about a contraction in Colorado’s ''pro bono'' transactional services. There have always been challenges associated with finding the right ''pro bono ''“deal flow” for transactional attorneys. Deal attorneys are often pleased to help those in need; however, they are often uncomfortable with litigation-centric ''pro bono ''matters outside of their competencies. Moreover, broad trends in transactional legal services reflect that deal attorneys are increasingly migrating away from large firms and, often, moving to smaller sized firms as well as in-house positions. Small firm and company environments often feature less support and resources to support ''pro bono ''work. And, in the case of company in-house positions, ''pro bono ''work is sometimes entirely unsupported (e.g., malpractice insurance is lacking and ''pro bono ''is not an institutional norm). The Entrepreneurial Law Clinic’s transactional ''pro bono ''network seeks to expand access to legal services for founders and entrepreneurs who are working at the margins of society. This mission is oriented around three guiding objectives: (1) Promote economic development through entrepreneurship as an anti-poverty measure. Make a favorable community impact by reducing friction associated with legal barriers for entrepreneurs. (2) Expand transactional ''pro bono ''participation. The goal of this network is not to increase the burden upon the many attorneys who already volunteer time for the ELC and other worthy ventures. Rather, it is to enlarge participation. The network’s intake, screening, and associated services aims to make it easier for attorneys not currently engaged to begin helping low income entrepreneurs. And (3) Create training opportunities for attorneys in transition. It is unfortunate that many attorneys are looking for work while many would-be clients remain underserved. The transactional ''pro bono ''network’s structure helps bridge this gap by providing opportunities for attorneys new to the profession or changing career directions. '''Product (Sara / JD)''' The TBPI will deliver a product that performs the following three services, which are detailed in Section. 6.3, Operations Stage 2. ---- . '''Team (Matt / Mark)''' ''Note: the document with original formatting is uploaded to Dropbox.'' The ELC has not yet identified specific individuals to lead the effort to establish or operate a transactional pro bono intermediary (TPBI). Accordingly, this section describes roles, with some attention to specific individuals that the ELC has contacted. '''TPBI Advisory Group''' For the startup phase, the ELC envisions forming an advisory group of 3-6 individuals with strong Denver and Boulder ties to the following circles: (1) active pro bono groups, firms, and networks; (2) transactional or business law attorneys; and (3) economic development professionals and organizations. Goals for the advisory group: *Generate buy-in among the three circles listed above *Seek and establish an organizational home for the TPBI *Provide feedback to ELC students formulating TPBI structure and operations Priority Tasks for the advisory group: *Reach out to key decision-makers and influencers in the three circles to generate buy-in and involvement *Articulate the need and disseminate the message *Explore fit with potential organizational homes or the feasibility of a new organization *Confer with ELC students about proposed structure and operations '''Operational Team''' The exact contours of the operational team will depend somewhat on developments during the startup phase. The ELC envisions the operational team serving the following functions: *Relationship Maintenance – The team will need to maintain relationships with law firms, other pro bono networks, business law groups, and economic development organizations. *Oversight and Troubleshooting – The team should observe trends in attorney participation and client sourcing in order to steer the TPBI and handle problems that arise. *Marketing – The TPBI will need ongoing efforts to increase visibility and credibility. *Coordination – Although some of the coordination of pro bono services could be automated, the TPBI will likely require some amount of live coordination between attorneys or firms and small businesses or economic development organizations. Coordination may be necessary to fill gaps, match need to service provision, or address unusual logistics. *Technical Support – The TPBI will require some amount of web/IT support and possibly fundraising, accounting, or HR support, depending on structure and finances. The ELC espouses a lean model for the TPBI. Initially, the team could include volunteers, law students, and members of existing pro bono organizations or networks. '''Contacted Individuals''' Based on discussions with the following individuals, the ELC believes that they may be interested in participating in an advisory group or helping to form one. *Candace Whitaker (Faegre Pro Bono Coordinator) *Matt Stamski (Faegre Corporate Associate) '''Market / Buy-in (Matt / Kendria)''' *Objective criteria used for clients *Presentation / pitch content (?) TPBI = Transactional Pro Bono Initiative This section of the business plan focuses on the market conditions and buy-in of transactional attorneys looking to do pro bono work. These attorneys fall generally into one of three groups: #Recent law school graduates and junior attorneys who would need or benefit from the supervision and advice of a more senior attorney; #Mid-level, senior-level, or retired/semi-retired attorneys who are comfortable and capable of operating on their own; and #Senior attorneys who prefer to supervise and mentor junior attorneys. Creating a system where each of these groups fit together will maximize participation. Additionally, there will be more attorney buy-in if the potential clients meet defined criteria and the attorneys can easily find potential clients. '''Recent Law School Graduates and Junior Attorneys''' The group of recent law school graduates and junior attorneys will probably have strong participation in first few years and can create momentum for this project. Because many recent graduates in the Front Range are underemployed or employed outside of his/her area of interest, a transactional pro bono network can provide an opportunity for relevant legal experience. Further, and perhaps more importantly, a transactional pro bono network also provides these attorneys with a significant and meaningful networking opportunity. If marketed properly, the networking associated with the transactional pro bono network could be a significant source of assistance. However, it is likely that the maximum networking benefit will come from the junior attorney’s relationship with his/her supervising senior attorney. Therefore, the ability to pair junior attorneys with senior attorneys is critical and so is buy-in at these levels. '''Mid-level-plus Attorneys''' The group of mid-level, senior-level, or retired/semi-retired attorneys is the broadest group of attorneys and may be the hardest group to create buy-in. These attorneys will likely be working individually on a project with a pro bono client and, therefore, will have less networking opportunities. These attorneys’ motivations will likely be cultivating potential clients, expanding their areas of competence, or pure altruism. As a result, creating buy-in from this group may be the most difficult. '''Senior Attorneys Supervising Lower Level Attorneys''' The group of senior attorneys who supervise lower level attorneys is similar to the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic supervising attorneys. The keys to creating buy-in from the supervising attorneys are (1) ensuring that the TPBI has a system to cover the logistics and administrative tasks, (2) allowing the supervising attorneys to supervise discrete tasks without having the projects, and their time commitment, grow uncontrollably, and (3) finding attorneys who want to supervise junior attorneys. '''General Issues of Buy-in''' '''''Logistics and Malpractice Insurance''''' Many of the concerns voiced by attorneys about the TPBI relate to malpractice insurance and logistics. If the TPBI does not provide malpractice insurance, then it will likely lose potential participation from in-house attorneys, solo practitioners, and attorneys at firms whose malpractice insurance either does not cover pro bono work or only covers a limited area of legal assistance. Initially, when the network is small, the TPBI’s lack of malpractice insurance may not be an issue. However, as the network grows and potentially funding sources grow, procuring malpractice insurance may allow more attorneys to join the TPBI. The logistics of the project is a second issue. While recent law school graduates or in-house attorneys may not mind spending the time dealing with administrative tasks, requiring such time from an over-worked associate or a senior attorney may reduce buy-in from these attorneys. Simplifying the intake process, any necessary coordination, and the logistical burden to those more willing to bear the burden will increase the buy-in of borderline attorneys. Furthermore, the attorneys’ experience with the TPBI will be critical to helping the TPBI grow. If the participating attorneys report a low legal work to logistical work ratio, the news of that experience will hinder participation. '''''The Facebook Model''''' The buy-in of local attorneys is critical to the success of this project, but it is important to distinguish whether the goal is to ''eventually'' serve every legitimate transactional pro bono client in Colorado or to ''immediately'' serve transactional pro bono clients. The TPBI, and transactional pro bono clients, will greatly benefit from a small group of interested attorneys willing to endure the growing pains of the TPBI with the goal of eventually serving many transactional pro bono clients. Additionally, starting with a few dedicated attorneys will help create buy-in from more attorneys down the road because the latter attorneys will endure less administrative and logistical set-backs. This forward-looking goal will prevent the network from gaining a reputation as difficult to deal with. Furthermore, starting with a smaller group of attorneys and expanding as appropriate will help ensure quality control both from a legal-services standpoint and a logistics standpoint. Simply speaking, the buy-in of busy attorneys to an established network will be greater than to a new network. '''''Defined Client Criteria''''' Having well defined criteria for potential pro bono clients is key to gaining attorney buy-in. Attorneys who do pro bono work want to ensure that the pro bono client is actually in need of free legal services. Additionally, attorneys want to know what type of pro bono clients is available through the TPBI. If an attorney feels that the TPBI has a particular type of client and this type of client meets the attorney’s needs with respect pro bono work, then the attorney is more likely to join the TPBI. Another benefit to having well defined criteria is that it will limit the number of applicants seeking free legal services and help the “gate-keeper” (whoever this may be) to easily weed out potential clients. '''''Attorneys’ Ability to Find Potential Clients through the TPBI''''' Because finding pro bono clients can be time consuming, attorneys are more likely to do pro bono work if they are given a list of potential clients rather than having to find the pro bono clients on their own. This is where the TPBI will benefit attorneys the most; this is what will really further buy-in from local attorneys. Therefore, a system that allows attorneys to easily find pro bono clients is essential to the success of the TPBI. '''Operations / Growth (Angela / Dave)''' *''Stage 1'' – '''Planning''' **Designing basic product, sustainability, buy-in pitches, mock-up *''Stage 2'' – '''Product''' **Time frame (Fall 2012 start) **Cost (See [[Business Plan#Financing|Financing]]) **Processes / forms - for screening clients, interviewing attorneys, etc. **Screening / attorneys / client list (on website / secure wiki) (See [[Business Plan#Product|Product]]) *''Stage 3'' – '''Growth''' **Time frame (estimated 2013) **Cost (See [[Business Plan#Financing|Financing]]) **Separate Non-profit 501(c)(3) status (?) **Processes / forms - for hiring staff attorneys, etc '''Scope of Operations''' '''Operations Stage 1 - Planning''' Advertising & Marketing To Potential Clients To find and attract clients, ELC student attorneys in the operational team will hand out flyers and answer questions regarding the ELC Pro Bono Network during semester presentations on “Forming Limited Liability Business Entities” to Mi Casa and Centro San Juan. Student attorneys will also present and / or hand out flyers and information pamphlets to entrepreneur networking events such as Denver Boulder New Tech Meetups, Ignite Boulder, Startup Colorado, Boulder Startup Weekend, Boulder Beta, Boulder Startup Week, Boulder Open Coffee Club, Startup Women, and Entrepreneurial Unplugged sessions. Our information pamphlets and flyers should make clear our income-based objective criteria for accepting clients, as well as potentially listing ELC Pro Bono Network office hours where ''any'' entrepreneur (who may not qualify for income-based criteria as a project-based client) may attend. ELC Pro Bono Network (student attorneys, organizers, pro bono attorneys, etc.) will also evangelize and arrange to have small business assistance networks (e.g., Mi Casa, Centro San Juan, Colorado Small Business Development Center Network in Boulder, etc.), bar associations, partnering law firms, and other partnerships have links directing entrepreneurs directly to our website. Small business assistance networks and entrepreneur networking events may also arrange to have ELC Pro Bono Network information pamphlets and flyers available on a regular basis without the presence of student attorneys. However, this may add to the costs associated with advertising and marketing to attract clients. Recruitment Of Partnering Organizations As based on models of similar pro bono legal organizations, “contributing partners” are individuals, non-profit organizations, or for-profit organizations that are willing to donate or contribute monetary funds or other potential resources (e.g., office space, equipment, etc.). Since non-profit organization tax benefits associated with 501(c)(3) status will not be filed for until Stage 3, it will likely be easier to find contributing partners during that stage. However, initial targets (e.g., Silicon Flatirons, Association of Corporate Counsel, etc.) may be able to allocate funds or resources to the ELC Pro Bono Network as part of an educational donation to the University of Colorado Law School, earmarked to the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic as part of the educational curriculum of law students. An alternative, potential structure for the ELC Pro Bono Network is to attach to another organization, such as the Silicon Flatirons, the Association for Corporate Counsel, etc. However, as the initial organizers are ELC student attorneys, creating the ELC Pro Bono Network as part of the curriculum of the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic and therefore part of the University of Colorado Law School is the most straightforward solution. There may be potential to lower costs by partnering with a currently existing entity rather than forming a standalone that should be considered. Pro bono partners are attorneys, law firms, or other organizations (e.g., bar associations) who donate time to ELC Pro Bono Network work (e.g., office hours, advisory group, taking on a client, organizing / hosting events, etc.). Additionally, ELC Pro Bono Network partnership channels can be formed where organizations like law firms or bar associations commit to having its attorneys commit a certain number of hours per year. Finalizing Structure and Criteria During Stage 1 we will also need to finalize the structural decisions and the criteria to be used in client selections. An initial intake questionnaire will need to be drafted, as well as objective criteria to be used in choosing clients. Fundraising for Stage 2 During stage 1 we will also need to raise funds to cover the costs of stage two. Stage two should be inexpensive enough to allow for costs to be covered through partnerships with contributing organizations. '''Operations Stage 2 - Execution + Product''' '''Intake''' Client Screening Initially, potential clients will be screened through a questionnaire based on objective criteria decided in Stage 1, most importantly income level. After this initial screening, the clients will either be rejected or asked to come in for an interview. The intake interviews will be similar to the current clinic process. Volunteers will conduct a brief (< 1 hour) interview with the potential client to determine the scope of their legal needs and consider other potential suitability factors that cannot be assed through the questionnaire. The volunteer will write up a memo on the potential clients legal needs and submit it to the supervising committee. The volunteer will also get the required information for conflict checks later in the process. Following intake interviews, the potential client will be referred to the TPBI supervisor. The supervisor will review potential client memos and make the final decision whether to take on a client. (Note: this will initially likely have to be Brad, but will transition to a full time supervisor hired in Stage III). The interviewing volunteers may also be asked to provide additional information by the committee. If the supervisor approves a client, the client will be added to the database and available to participating attorneys. Attorney Screening There will need to be some form of screening process before someone is given access to the client database. This could be as simple as verifying bar admission, or more detailed to help with attorney-client matching. '''Matchmaking''' Once a client is approved, their interview memo will be made available to participating attorneys. This could be structured in multiple ways and may change throughout the stages. One option is through an email list serve. This would be simple, but would be less accessible for attorneys. Another option is a Dropbox-type service or a shared folder accessible to pro bono partners that would allow all the client memos to be available in one location. This would make access easy and allow for removal of clients once an attorney takes them on. In the later stages of the program, a searchable database would potentially be the best option. This would allow attorneys to search for specific legal needs and be connected to companies with those needs. Once an attorney takes a client, the intermediary will no longer be involved, aside from asking for feedback. '''Office Hours''' An early part of Stage 2 will be the availability of attorneys for brief “office hour” meetings with clients needing very basic legal help. This will be set up so that the volunteering attorney is available for a set period of time, and clients can walk in to go over basic problems without an appointment. They will explicitly not be creating an attorney client relationship, and will refer clients with more complicated problems to the actual referral network. This is a potential opportunity for in-house attorneys to participate prior to purchasing malpractice insurance in Stage 3. '''Follow Up''' Participating attorneys will be asked to provide feedback on their experience so we can streamline the process and make it easier on future participants. Specifically, they’ll be asked on any improvements to the intake process that would have made their experience better. Feedback will be particularly useful in learning what information is most useful in the client summary memos and what information we might be missing. Clients will also be asked to provide feedback on their experience. This will be useful in ensuring that we provide a satisfactory level of service, as well as in working to streamline the process of transitioning a client to a participating attorney. '''Fundraising for Stage 3''' Depending on the choices made for stage three, such as purchasing malpractice insurance or hiring a full time supervisor, costs could be significantly higher in stage three. This may require outside funding of some type. The advisory board will be tasked with reviewing and approving a planned budget and identifying fundraising goals. '''Operations Stage 3 - Growth''' 501(c)3 Filing for 501(c)3 status could potentially make the intermediary more attractive for donors. This is a later stage goal due to the length of time filing will take. Note: we may want to start this earlier depending on the difficulty of filing and the length of time it takes for a response. Hiring Supervisor If the demand is great enough, supervision of the intermediary may require a full or part time supervisor. This person may be an attorney, although that may be unnecessary and add to the cost. It may make more sense to hire a full time administrative assistant to sort through applications and set up interviews with student volunteers. Malpractice Insurance Purchasing malpractice insurance would allow in-house attorneys to participate in the network. This would add a significant number of attorneys to the network who would otherwise be unable to do pro bono work of any kind, but would incur a potentially large cost. See the financing section for more. '''Operating Considerations''' Facilities To keep operating costs minimized, ELC Pro Bono Network plans to be housed with the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic in the University of Colorado Law School its Stage 1 and Stage 2. Printing relevant materials, meeting with clients for intake interviews, and meeting with potential partners as well as existing partners will take place in the Wolf Law Building’s Clinical Area. Initial office hours during Stage 2 will also take place in one of the Clinical Area’s meeting rooms. However, once a client relationship is formed for individual projects, the individual pro bono attorney assumes responsibility for the client and client meetings will take place at another location arranged by pro bono attorney and client. For Stage 3, another location with a contributing partner organization (e.g., Silicon Flatirons, Association of Corporate Counsel, etc.) may be necessary to house onsite management team members as well as house pro bono partner attorney office hours and intake interviews. For ease of clients in finding and using the ELC Pro Bono Network, it would be best to settle on a fairly permanent location. For ease of recruiting law student managers and using ELC student attorneys for intake interviews, it may make sense to request, if space allows, housing with the Silicon Flatirons program. Equipment Equipment costs should initially be low. Student attorneys can use their own computers and send the client memos out through a free service like Dropbox. However, this may not be a secure, permanent solution if confidential client information is stored in the client memos. Depending on the decision made on location for stage 3, there could be significant one-time equipment costs to set up the intermediary’s offices (e.g., computer terminals, shared network technology allowing access by pro bono partners in off-site locations, etc.). Service Capacity Initially the service capacity will be limited by the ability of ELC students to conduct interviews with potential clients in addition to their other clinic work. As law student managers and other auxiliary staff are taken on through the ELC Pro Bono Network, more potential clients can be served. '''Marketing''' '''(Cory and Scott)''' The marketing strategy will be a primary driver of the long-term success of the transactional pro-bono intermediary (TPBI), as both attorneys and clients are needed for the TPBI to function. The ELC believes that the marketing strategy should focus on three areas – general marketing, attorney-specific marketing, and client-specific marketing. The marketing strategy for each of those areas is discussed in detail below. '''General Marketing''' The TPBI will likely need to create a website that will serve as the public “face” of the TPBI. The website will provide information and instructions for attorneys who would like to volunteer and clients who need assistance. It is unclear at this stage who should develop and maintain the website, as it remains to be determined exactly how the TPBI will be managed on a day to day basis. Once that initial website has been developed, it should be refined as we determine the most effective marketing channels and message. The TPBI should also create profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook, both of which should direct traffic to the primary website. In terms of scheduling, the TPBI website will be need to be created first. Once the site has been established, a mass e-mail should be sent to the all contacts we have developed throughout the project. The e-mail should direct both attorneys and potential collaborators to the wesbite. Additionally, the e-mail should encourage further dissemenation of information about the project to other individuals whose contact information we have not yet obtained. Once the initial in-flow of clients and out-flow to attorneys has been acheived, the TPBI could in all likelihood be self-marketing. Existing clients and community centers (such as Mi Casa) would generate leads for the TPBI, and existing attorneys would refer their co-workers and other attorneys to the site. '''Attorney-specific Marketing ''' There are a wide variety of channels by which to advertise the TPBI to local attorneys, so our initial marketing efforts may involve some amount of trial and error. Once the TPBI has identified the most effective marketing channels, the marketing strategy should be refined accordingly. The initial attorney-specific marketing efforts of the TPBI should focus on the following: *Advertise in legal newsletters and magazines, such as Law Week Colorado and the Colorado Lawyer. **Such advertisements should be both simple and effective. Approaching the editors of such newletters and magazines about including descriptions of the TPBI in their respective "News" sections would be a good step once the project has initially been established. The TPBI hopes such marketing will either be free or significantly discounted due to its pro-bono nature. *Ask executive committee members of transactional-related sections of the CBA and local bar associations to inform their members about the TPBI in future meetings and/or monthly e-mails. **This may be the most effective marketing channel. The CBA and local bar associations undoubtedly have a much larger contact base than the ELC, and marketing through their montly e-mails and meetings would reach a much larger audience. *Connect with pro-bono coordinators at firms with annual pro-bono requirements so that they can refer their attorneys to the TPBI for future pro-bono work. *Ask Silicon Flatirons to plug the TPBI at future events, such as Entrepreneurs Unplugged. *Advertise via the Association of Corporate Counsel. A contact database should be established to keep records of whom we have contacted and the effectiveness of such marketing. This duty should be managed by those in charge of the TPBI website. Once our message and method has been refined, the TPBI should solely utilize that approach. '''Client-specific Marketing ''' Based on the existing ELC waitlist and high volume of client-specific questions at ELC presentations, we believe there is a significant supply of potential clients for the TPBI. Accordingly, the TPBI should focus their initial client-specific marketing efforts on the following: *Provide flyers and hand-outs at community centers such as Mi Casa and Centro San Juan that will provide information about the TPBI and instructions to apply to be a client. *Ask other pro-bono providers (such as Colorado Legal Services) to refer clients with transactional-based legal issues to the TPBI. *Advertise on entrepreneurial websites and blogs, such as Startup Colorado, the Denver Entrepreneurs Meet-up Group, and Startup Denver. *Ask Silicon Flatirons to plug the TPBI at future events, such as Entrepreneurs Unplugged. As the TPBI will likely attract clients who fall outside of the demographic we aim to serve, the marketing materials should explicitly state some of the key benchmarks that must be met to be approved as a client. If those potential clients are weeded out before filling out the client application, the in-flow of potential clients to the TPBI should largely resemble the audience we aim to serve, thereby making the marketing more effective and limiting the amount of man hours required for client in-take. '''Competition (Heather / Josh)''' *Legal Services for Entrepreneurs in San Francisco (See Dave) *Metro Volunteer Lawyers (See Mark) *LegalCORPS (in Minnesota) *Colorado Lawyers for the Arts *Startup Colorado (See Kendria) **Sheridan Ross **Dorsey Whitney **Baker Hostetler **Faegre Baker Daniels (maybe) *ProBoPat - US PTO pro bono in Denver project (See Kendria) **Partnering with Mi Casa, providing IP pro bono network **Ben Fernandez (organizing; alum) (See Kendria) *PIIPA (Public Interest Intellectual Property Advisors - www.piipa.org) (See Danny Sherwinter in [[Attorney Feedback]]) *IIPI (International Intellectual Property Institute - iipi.org) (See Danny Sherwinter in [[Attorney Feedback]]) *Cornell(?) *Colorado "lo bono"(?) (See Matt) The competitors listed below could be thought of as possible collaborators for sharing resources, opportunities and participants. The most comparable organizations to our business model are the Legal Services for Entrepreneurs in San Francisco and LegalCORPS in Minnesota, which both provide transactional legal services to low-income, for-profit businesses. They both act as a matchmaking service between clients and volunteer attorneys. Although there are several legal pro-bono networks in Colorado, none of them specifically serve the same transactional work for lifestyle businesses. '''Financing (Nate / Paul)''' *''Stage 1'' **Recruitment events (?) (could be sponsored by law firms, could tag-along with Startup Colorado events?) *''Stage 2'' **Secure wiki site payments / costs (open source options?) **ELC pro bono home website (on sponsor organization site?) ***Web hosting costs (sponsored by Silicon Flatirons / ACC?) **Website design / development costs (CU CS student project v. simple CMS Wordpress set-up) *''Stage 3'' **Fundraising process (e.g., which team members raise money, where / how much / from whom) **Malpractice insurance **Cost / process of using work-study funds of law student support staff (Stage 2?) **Cost of full-time / part-time attorney The malpractice insurance is the main expense keeping this idea from turning into the model we have conceptualized. I spoke with some partners at small law firms in my office and believe a reasonable rate to expect is $700-750 per lawyer per year. I have requested a quote from a large legal insurance company with our specific needs expressed to them. It appears that we can have the per lawyer rate based on a full time lawyer split between multiple part time lawyers. If we have the equivalent of 4 full time lawyers working, even if we actually have 12 working part-time, our rate would be around $2,900 a year. The rates will fluctuate based on experience so it will be more expensive if we bring in non-employed recent graduates. The representative I am in touch with will email the quote by the end of the week and I will post it here. Budget Considerations: Creation and maintenance of a functioning website - Need to discuss the breadth and requirements for the website to get a solid picture of the requirements for creation and maintenance Hire administrative staff - Need to figure out who will do the initial intake interviews? - What will be required of those tasks and what will be time commitment Marketing and Advertising Costs - Need to discuss the type of marketing that will be done and the resources required for this - Printing and distribution costs for advertising materials Formation costs - Filing requirements along with yearly regulatory costs for 501(c)(3) Operating costs - Extent of operations - Need for fixed location to operate - Fundraising and expenses that are required to facilitate that '''Risk Factors (Brad)'''